Change of mind
by Vanillabeancobain
Summary: Post DOC. Vincent emerges from Lucrecia's cave and ends up in a coma. When he wakes up, he's free from his inner demons but with a drastic personality change. Lemony fic with Yuffentine/reffie and CloTi.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Final Fantasy VII, its characters or any of the storyline or characters from its subsequent sequels or franchise. I derive no profit from this story.

**Setting: **Post DoC

**THIS CHAPTER STARTS WITH A BIT OF A LEMON. IF YOU'RE NOT INTO THAT KIND OF THING, SKIP AHEAD.**

**Change of Mind.**

**Written by Vanillabeancobain**

**Prologue**_**  
**_

Tifa grinned as the last patron left the bar and put the last few glasses away, wiping the table top as she collected them and dropped them in the dishwasher. _What a day_. First she had to wake up at the crack of dawn as Cid dropped Barrett off to collect Marlene and Denzel for the school holidays, then she needed to sort out the other million and one things that she hadn't had time for on other days. Pay registration for her car and the Fenrir, organize her bills, her tax information…. Ugh. Then, of course, she needed to open the bar and work a full night. It was 3AM and she was not in the mood for anything but bed, she decided, putting out the light as she left the bar for the evening.

She felt a hand slide up the small of her back and sighed softly, leaning in against the warmth of his touch. "Rough night?" Cloud asked,

"you have _no_ idea…" she said softly.

He wrapped his arms around her waist tightly and she leaned into him, feeling his hard muscle against her back. Slowly, his hands began to massage into her shoulders, relieving the built in tension from hours of holding glasses, bottles, drink trays and opening and closing refrigerator doors. She gasped slightly as she felt his mouth and warm tongue leaving hot wet kisses on that weak spot where her neck met her collarbones. She could feel him leering at her as her breaths sped up with the contact and his hands started working their way up the front of her shirt, lifting the fabric and raking into her skin longingly. "I've wanted to do this to you…" he said in between kisses "…all day." 

She turned to face him, bringing her lips to his and smiled when she felt that wolfish grin just before their mouths impacted. She _loved_ feeling him smile as he was kissing her. Tifa let out a sharp yelp as he picked her up and flung her over his shoulder, carrying her unceremoniously up the stairs, her legs dangling with each step upwards. As they entered their room, she hastily took off her shoes, skirt, top… not caring where they landed on the floor and laughed as Cloud lowered himself over her on the bed. Warm, teasing kisses landed over her lips, her neck, her chest and eventually he stopped, smirking at her expectant look as he ran his fingers along the elastic of her underwear. She gave him a look, the one usually reserved for swearing in front of the kids or when Marlene didn't say thank you to someone. The death glare. It had never looked so sexy as he eased his fingertips around the side of her underwear and slowly, tentatively, circled the mound underneath. Delicately using his fingertips to tease her further. She sighed and leaned back into her pillow, breathing growing ragged, as he used his free hand to slide the offending item of clothing off and brought his lips down to her entrance. Her eyelids flew shut as she started to chew on her lip, in her own world of gentle paradise as he slowly started to bring her over the edge. He glanced up at her, tongue lapping slowly and teasingly at her nub, and smiled at her look of absolute arousal. He would not last long today. "Starting to unwind a bit?" he asked, smirking at her inability to immediately answer him.  
"just… a-a little" she responded, hissing through her teeth as he slowly started sucking and then returned to gentle laps and circular motions over her.

Without another word, Cloud loomed back over her and slid himself into her. Tifa let out a small whimper, muffled as she buried her head into his shoulder. He dragged himself through agonizingly slowly, afraid it would be over too soon, she felt _too good_. After a few strokes, he picked up the pace and she started to let out little gaps. He started to thrust in harder, grinning down at Tifa as she let out a loud moan. He could hear the headboard banging a steady rhythm into the wall as he thrust in, again and again with a faster pace, about to reach his limit. "cloud…" she whimpered. His smirk broadened.  
"C-Cloud…" she cried out, louder. The banging as the headboard hit the wall added to his intoxicated feeling, it seemed to fill the whole room along with his ragged breath, her gasping and mewling. It seemed to fill the whole building, a symphony of percussive sounds as he drove into her again and again, he was just about to—

"CLOUD!" Tifa half shouted at him, suddenly looking annoyed. "Somone's knocking on the front door!" His face fell.  
"Tell them to fuck off"  
"_Cloud_." She said firmly, the mother like tone in her voice.

He sighed and pulled back on his clothes, dragging his feet as he walked to the front door.  
"Who is it?" he asked, defeated.  
"Let me _in_, Cloud!" cried out a familiar voice. "I've been knocking for at least ten minutes! What are you doing up there anyway?"  
He pulled the chain off the front door and opened it up slowly. The young shinobi gave him a sunny smile and leapt inside as he closed the door behind her.  
"Did I wake you up? I forgot my key…" she trailed off.

As of last week, Yuffie was living in their spare room and helping out at the bar while she had a small vacation from the WRO. She had said she was simply bored of being in an office, but everyone knew that she was worried about Vincent. He hadn't returned since that incident, it had been almost 2 months with no word. Reeve had search crews looking around, whether for a body or a man no one was certain, but Vincent was good at hiding out when he didn't want to be found so it wasn't exactly encouraging.

Her spirits picked up when she was around her old friends and she kept herself busy helping Tifa or going out to clubs or to see bands play on the nights off Tifa insisted she had twice a week. No matter how annoying she may have once been, Cloud viewed her as a sister and was glad to see that she was slowly lifting out of her depression and worry caused by Vincent's absence. He ruffled her hair affectionately

"HEY!" she whinged "it took _hours_ to get ready.!" Yet she smiled despite her protests.

"Alright, Yuffie," Cloud faked a yawn as they walked up the stairs "I'm beat. See you tomorrow…"  
She smirked slightly when he turned toward his room and saw that his shirt was inside out. As he opened his door, she could distinctly make out a pile of clothing littering the floor leading up to the bed. She sniggered as she opened the door to her own bedroom and began to undress "_tired_, huh?" she muttered, freeing her legs from her boots and placing them back in her wardrobe and listening for anything from the next room. 

"It was just Yuffie…" Cloud sighed as he slid back out of his pants "…forgot her key again." Cloud glanced at Tifa and nearly walked to Yuffie's room to skin her alive- Tifa had fallen asleep.

"Teef?" he called out gently, running his fingers along her cheek softly. A small snore escaped her lips; she was dead to the world.

"Damn." Was all he said. Cloud climbed into bed next to her and tried his best to fall asleep.

Yuffie grinned impishly as she hung her bag up, remembering to take her keys out of her pocket and put them on the dresser for the morning. It would be a _shame_ to forget your keys, wouldn't it? That's why she had spares for every member of Avalanche on her person at all times. Yuffie grinned evilly as she hopped into bed. Messing with Cloud was guaranteed to cheer her up, even without Vincent there.

Vincent.

She hoped he was ok.

**AN:**

Let me know what you think. This will be an eventual Yuffie/Vincent Yuffie/Reno pairing with an extremely obvious CloTi thing going on. The plot will kick in over the next chapter; I just wanted to set the scene in a way that was totally Yuffie before jumping in to what's coming ahead.


	2. One

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Final Fantasy VII, its characters or any of the storyline or characters from its subsequent sequels or franchise. I derive no profit from this story.

**Setting: **Post DoC

**A/N:**

Thanks so much for the reviews, follows and for actually reading the first chapter. Thanks especially to the anon reviewer who notified me of the completely whacked out typesetting on the prologue. FFnet was down so I attempted to upload it via mobile. Never again.

The plot is kicking in now so enjoy and review if you want more.

**Change of Mind**

**Written by Vanillabeancobain**

**Chapter 1**

The phone call came in the middle of the night. Hospital. Yuffie felt all the air escape her body, like being winded after an especially hard blow to the stomach. She needed to be reminded to get dressed before leaving, that hospitals had visiting hours. She went back to bed, but she couldn't sleep.

The room was cold and the caustic, acrid stench of antiseptic seemed so wrong. The silence was overpowering. He lay there, the man she had once suspected of being invincible, looking as weak and helpless as a newborn. A guttural cry escaped her lips as Tifa, Cloud and the others gaped in shock starting at his lifeless body. He'd been discovered somewhere near Nibelheim, unconscious and barely breathing before he was airlifted to Edge Hospital. The test results were inconclusive. Whispers and fragments streamed in and out of earshot as Cloud talked with the doctors

"….inconclusive…"

"… looks like….psychological…"

"unusual brainwave activity…"

It all seemed wrong, wrong, _wrong. _The hospital reeked of death and despair and she begged internally for him to wake up, please wake up, oh _god_, why won't he wake up?!

The days passed by as if one long blur. The other visitors differed daily, but Yuffie remained a constant. Sometimes people would bring her food or a hot drink to keep her going. She fell asleep in the uncomfortable chairs and when she awoke, always received the same shake of the head. Not today, but the doctors said maybe tomorrow.

She finally cracked and ran down the halls, trying to escape the maddening smell and fluorescent lights and constant steady beeping of machines. So, like always, she picked the highest place she could be where no one would find her. She climbed the fire stairs until they reached their end and collapsed on the metallic staircase in tears. It might have been hours before she could smell the cigarette smoke wafting near her face. She looked up to see a halo of red hair and worried blue-green eyes looking down at her. He regarded her a moment. Sleepless, shaking, hysterical looking. He offered her his lit cigarette wordlessly and was almost relieved when she accepted it and took a long drag from it.

"Is he doing any better, yo?" he finally asked, sitting next to her, his feet dangling next to hers on the steps. Yuffie sighed.

"I don't know…" she responded, her voice high pitched and not at all sounding like her own. "I don't know." She repeated.

They sat in silence for a while, the red tips glowing from their cigarettes until they eventually tossed them off the building. Finally, she spoke again.

"The doctors think he's doing better, but it's hard to say. They think the reason he's unconscious is psychological, because there's not really a lot wrong with him right now…" she breathed out, relieved to be voicing her concerns with someone finally.

"So, if there's nothing wrong with him, he should wake up pretty soon then." He smiled gently at her, "it's not like Valentine to stay down for long…. That guy's harder to get rid of than roaches." He reached an arm around her shoulder, a sort of hug. Yuffie leaned in, accepting the comfort she was offered for once. She fell asleep without realizing. When she woke up, she was in her bed at Tifa's place.

Little did she know that Reno had been waiting by her side all night.

Vincent opened his eyes, sleepily. He knew he was in a bed. He knew this was not_ his_ bed. The rest was a little hazy.

He reached for his gun, only to find there was none. This sent him sitting bolt upright, examining the room. It _looked_ like a hospital. Why was he in hospital? A nurse walked past and immediately rushed in.

"Mr Valentine, you're awake!" she cried, visibly excited with this news. "let me call the doctor to conduct some further tests, then I'll ask you to recount what you remember from before you woke up." She left the room hurriedly and he was left again to his own devices.

Vincent pulled himself upright and climbed out of bed. The floor was cold but he ignored the sensation and walked into the tiny bathroom. He gasped as he saw himself. His hospital gown was unpleasant but expected…. But what about the scars riddling his body? Was that why he was in hospital? He didn't seem injured, but maybe he'd been in for a while… The next big shock was his face. He looked relatively clean shaven, but his hair was in a tangled mess, down past his waist. He chose not to think about his eyes as he heard the door burst open and two sets of footsteps enter the room.

"Hello Vincent." The doctor smiled warmly at him.

_Smiled._ This was strange, through all his years as a Turk, not once had anyone seemed happy to see him. "My name's doctor Ramsey. May I just say what an honour it is to have one of the planet's heroes here toda-"

"_heroes?_" Vincent echoed, cutting him off.

"Of course, Mr Valentine. There is no need to be modest here"

Vincent's head hurt. "Yes, how silly of me…" he trailed

"Now Mr Valentine, Vincent, I'd like you to tell me exactly what happened before you became unconscious"

Vincent tried to think. He recalled a mission in Kalm. Some sort of reconnaissance job. ShinRa suspected a respected Government official of trying to shut down one of their medical research labs and had sent him and another agent in to _negotiate_ a solution. Nothing dangerous, just wave the gun in his face and look threatening after knocking some furniture around and making a menacing phone call. To be honest, Vincent had been downright _bored_ during this mission, but it was a task to tide him over until he was to be posted as a body guard in one of their medical labs in Nibelheim.

The doctor looked worried, but said nothing, instead scribbling frantically onto a clipboard. He smiled again, this time grimly.

"Mr Valentine, do you know what year it is…?"

"uh…" This was _never_ a good question to be asked by a doctor.

When Dr Ramsey responded, the colour drained from Vincent's face.

"How?!" he demanded angrily "is this some kind of a joke?! I would have been here almost forty years! Do I look like an old man to you?!" he glanced down at the newspaper at his bedside. If this was a joke, it was an elaborate one.

"I'll call someone who can help fill you in on what's happened since you were a member of the Turks…" the doctor assured him gently. "Please, wait here."

Forty years. Forty _fucking_ years. How could he have missed out on so much? Why was he called a _hero_?! Had he saved the world? Maybe this was a dream… a bad, bad dream and he was face down in a bar after one too many bourbon and cokes. Then a nurse walked in. '_Hm...' _he thought '_maybe not such a bad dream after all…'_ He admired her legs. They seemed to stop somewhere near the ceiling. He smirked as she walked in looking flustered at being so close to one of the 'heroes' who saved the planet.

"Can I get you anything, Mr Valentine?" she asked shyly, his eyes lingering too long over her body. Suddenly she felt very exposed.

"A glass of water would be nice…" he said smoothly, his voice low with a sultry undertone "…and would you be able to bring me some scissors, please? It appears I'm in need of a haircut."

The next phone call came at 10am. Yuffie was groggy from sleep as she heard Tifa calling her name up the stairs.

"Yuffie! Great news, Vincent's woken up!" She shouted excitedly. Yuffie jumped out of bed, still half tangled in her bedsheets and threw herself down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"There's only one thing…" Tifa said cautiously. Yuffie's heart sank.  
"Is he ok?" she pleaded

"He's fine, just…" the dark haired woman trailed off, her fingers lacing through eachother awkwardly "…he can't seem to remember much at the moment. Cloud and I have been asked to pick him up alone to avoid confusion. He'll be staying here until he's back to normal."

This was a lot to take in.

"Here, as in 'living down the hall'…?" asked the small ninja cautiously

"Here, as in 'sleeping in the room next to you'" responded Tifa with a smile "So you can help him get better without worrying like you have been these last few months"

A small strangled noise left Yuffie's mouth before she could stop herself and she all but pushed Tifa out the front door.

"Come on, come _on!_"she called "Vinnie's waiting for you!"

Yuffie had never really baked much, but she pulled out a cookbook until she found a recipe for dark chocolate brownies. She knew that Vincent had liked these last time Tifa had made them and, as the doctors had said he needed his memory to be jogged, this seemed like a great way to welcome him home. She raided the pantry until she found the butter, dark chocolate, sugar, eggs, baking powder and flour and laid them all out on the counter with a mixing bowl and a greased up baking tray.

"Whatcha makin', yo?" called a voice from the doorway  
"Brownies!" Her big smile was back and Reno felt at ease. Her large storm coloured eyes shining and alive as he remembered them. He read the recipe silently and then watched her start melting the butter and chocolate in a saucepan before mixing the flour, sugar, eggs and baking powder.

"Do we have any nuts, princess?" he called from the pantry, popping his head out into the kitchen. He realized his mistake when he saw the mischevious gleam in her eyes

"I don't know about_ you_, Turkey. Shouldn't we be asked Elena?"

"Hey!" he snapped back "I've been with many girls, but Laney isn't one of them."

"I wanted to use marshmallows instead" She finally responded. Reno grinned, this seemed about right for Yuffie, and removed them from the shelf and closed the pantry door.

He lit up a cigarette while they cooked and didn't argue as she lit up with him in the small alley by the side of the bar. They waited in comfortable silence. It was nice seeing her during more peaceful times, he decided. She'd grown into her long legs and large eyes like a puppy grows into its oversized feet and although she still had a clumsy, youthful charm, she seemed to look more graceful. More proportionate. Maybe when things calmed down, he'd get to know her a little better. Reno's thoughts were called to an abrupt halt when the unmistakable sound of a car pulling up out the front caught both their attention.

"He's home!" Yuffie cried.

**Author Note:**

Ok so here's a substantially longer chapter than I had expected to write.

Despite the more lighthearted prologue, this story is relatively serious. I believe in having a good comedic balance to keep things from being too miserable and also to keep Yuffie in her impish, playful element. Plus I would have loved to see Yuffie interrupting Cloud and Tifa's sexy time… this will be a running gag throughout the story.

Please review if you have any feedback or want to read more. I'll try to keep updating as frequently as possible. Thanks!


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